BR, I believe that it was made quite clear from the beginning that it would be official Lego creatures and factions only. At least that's what I got from our early discussions about the rules for the RP.

We should take this to Formendacil for official ruling instead of debating amongst ourselves if it should be allowed or not. Not that debating is bad, in fact, I quite enjoy debating.

That's the marvelous thing about our friendship, we agree to disagree on more topics then we agree to agree on.

We did make it clear that made up characters that had no official faction or were not official monsters made by Lego were not allowed. Don't try to say that my guy's don't belong to a faction, they did at one point but decided to leave and do things their own way.

Another question...Is there a map that shows more than the general boundaries of the factions? I am particularly interested in the land on the north side of the Viking Faction's territory, but I would also like to see a map with the names of castles, towns and stuff...

With regards to the brick-built creatures debate, I don't feel entirely comfortable with making a "ruling", since I'm more or less of the opinion that the Roleplay should direct its own course. However, I will give you my opinion, based on past experience:

It seems to me that be a stickler over whether or not non-human creatures should be allowed in the Roleplay is a bit peculiar. Now, once I reason it through, it makes sense that since this particular roleplay is really striking back to its LEGO roots that you would want to excise anything not too close to LEGO, but I'm kind of having the opinion that this might be too vigilant on your part.

The LEGO-ness of the Roleplay, in my opinion, should be important but not absolutely necessary. I've always seen the ethos of the roleplay being such that it was basically story-telling in a framework that builds off the official LEGO factions and could be illustrated using LEGO--but need not otherwise be imagined using LEGO. In that case, it seems entirely consistent to me to important further fantasy monsters and goblins beyond the ones currently offered by LEGO, especially in this case, since the ability to illustrate them is certainly available, since we are talking about brick-built beasties, after all.

My instinct, then, is to say "yes". That being said, however, I appreciate Matt BeDar's point about the potential for such beasts (dragons, especially) to outweigh the balance of power in the roleplay world. This is, however, a general problem of fantasy roleplays: one has to be very careful that the powerful wizard, powerful magic sword, powerful fantasy animal--while powerful and dangerous--doesn't so horribly overwhelm conventional tactics and weaponry (arrows, spears, and horses) that they seem to have no point in the story.

So, if you want an official ruling, my suggestion is: yes, they are applicable, but anyone planning to use them should really consider what kind of a delicate balancing act you have to go through to make things seem both reasonable and fun to everyone. Obviously, that's not so easy to make a RULE about, and then police it, but needs to be a matter of caution and everyone should be willing to dialogue and reach compromise--just as in any situation of disagreement.

~Michael A. Joosten - Gaming Moderator~

P.S. I must agree with Fire... however DID you and he become friends, Matt? You guys seem to sit on opposite ends of the internet island, throwing coconuts at each other... (okay, silly analogy... but it's late...)

No Fire, it was at church one sunday and I was bored so I decided to talk to you. How our friendship has survived this long, I have no idea. But I do know that there are certain things that we agree on 100%. Mostly those things are strategy games, video games, and our love of Lego. Besides those things, we disagree on everything else.

I can just see your trademark grin behind that screen, moi copains. (That's French for: "My friend.")

EDIT: I now have a question to ask of you people: Can we change the name of our characters?

DOUBLE EDIT: Oh, Matty: You can't just make Mods and Admins do whatever you want. They're not puppets, and some may not be interested in CCRPG, especially if you try to make them control the dragons and other creatures. And, that would mean that they couldn't participate in the main storyline as well. So this all boils down to one thing: I GET TO KEEP DRACO!!!!!!!!

Woe is me, woe is me, I used to have a hamster tree. Then it got eaten by a newt and now I have no cuddly fruit.

Fire, what are you talking about controlling the Admins? Does this have to do with me calling in Formendacil for a final judging on this matter of brickbuilt creatures? If so, I only called him in for help, not to control him. I'm not stupid enough nor gutsy enough to even attempt controlling the Admins or Mods.